By now, you probably have read/heard that Governor Palin has resigned her position in Alaska, in effect, giving her two weeks notice. When I first saw the news on AKM’s FB page, I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Some of the friends I’ve made through the Mudflats started posting it in their statuses as well. I went to the ‘flats, but the server had crashed hard, so I went to other sources. Then, someone posted a link to the old Mudflats site where AKM had posted an entry. I was still gobsmacked.
What the fuck? There was no hint that she was gonna resign–none. I mean, if there had been, it would have plastered the front page of every news site. Senator Mark Begich met with her two days ago, and she said nada. She twitted a bit before the presser, and there was no mention of resigning. She was going to announce that she wasn’t seeking reelection, but that was it. Then, bam! She resigns.
Before I saw the presser, I was convinced that she had resigned so that she could gear up for a presidential run. In addition, there was all that lovely money to be made by ‘writing’ a memoir and/or hosting a FOX television show and/or selling things. Being a governor is hard work, and it’s even more difficult when you have a loyal contigency of bloggers watching your every move. Now, if the governor had been doing her job, the idea of being blogged about shouldn’t have been that intimidating. However, most of the bloggers started blogging about her because of her shady practices, so she had good reason to be nervous.
That is, if she were capable of being nervous.
Ever since I first had the misfortune of discovering the persona that is Sarah Palin, I have been painfully aware of just how narcisstic she is. Everything is about her (and maybe her family), and she is the center of her own drama. Iratwo used a word for her, hochstapler, which is German for a con (wo) man, or, in my words, a grifter. She becomes whatever she needs to be in order to get what she wants. In other words, there is no there there.
For the first hour following her resignation announcement and before I saw the video, I was elated. Finally! Alaska was shedding the albatross that was their governor (though I hear the second in command is not much better). Rumors started filtering in that there was a bigger scandal coming down the pipeline, maybe having to do with the Alaskan pipeline. For those of us who visit the ‘flats on a regular basis, this was no news to us. There were other rumors, too, but a political scandal held the most heft.
I was elated. I felt schadenfreude that La Palina was finally getting hers. Yes, I knew there was more to the story, but I savored the news that she had finally exited the Alaskan scene.
Then, something very strange started happening. I watched half of the presser, and what I thought to be true shattered to the ground. I couldn’t watch the whole thing because she makes me nauseous, but I saw enough to know that Palin did not resign entirely of her own volition. She was angry, edgy, rattled, and…scared. Yes, scared. This was not the supremely over-confident Palin, sure that she can handle anything that comes her way (even the VP position). This was not the Palin who went into the VP debate with a wink and a smile and a bunch of ‘you betchas’. Ok, scared might not be the best word. Um, unsure. Yeah, maybe, but definitely pissed off. She didn’t have her usual smirk in place.
This Palin was breathing hard and unevenly. She was stuttering over her words instead of tossing out her verbal salad as usual. She isn’t very coherent on the best of days, but today was the worst I’d ever seen her. True to form, she dragged her kids into the mix and talked about the troops. She trotted out her sporting analogy (and got it wrong to boot) and tried to explain why winners win by quitting.
That’s when I started getting nervous. Poisonous creatures are the most dangerous when they are cornered, and that’s what Palin resembled at her presser. All the pundits are talking about how her political career is over (well, the sane ones, anyway. Others, like the always-wrong Bill Kristol begs to differ) and are wondering what she’s going to do now.
The latest is that she’s being investigated for getting a free house in exchange for giving a $13 million contract. If this is true, it should put a stop to her political ambitions, right? Yeah, right. I mean, come on. Throughout history, there are plenty examples of criminals who resuscitate their political careers. Look at Bill Clinton. He got throught the whole blow job scandal relatively intact (no pun intended). Look at anyone who worked for W. Many of them are finding jobs in the media, and a few are still pols of some sort. Vitter is another name that leaps to mind. Ensign and Sanford could join that list, and I would bet that neither man faces criminal charges, either.
Politics is rife with crime and backscratching. Alaska is especially renowned for this kind of behavior. If Palin is sent away for her behavior, that is one thing. Maybe. After all, Alaska cheered when Ted Stevens was released because of a sloppy trial. They didn’t care that he was actually probably guilty. Damn it, he was Uncle Teddy, and he was theirs!
It’s the same way with Palin. Her followers are rabid about her. If you read some of the rightwing blogs today (but I recommend that you don’t), they have her painted as a martyr who is too good for this world. It’s almost cultlike, and it makes me nervous. I am not naive enough to believe that Palin could never be elected to another post. After all, W. was a failure all his life, and he still got to be president twice. Vast swathes of our country are swayed by a charismatic personality, even one that has no substance behind it. No, especially one that has no substance behind it because then they can imbue whatever they want onto that person. And, no, you wingnuts out there–President Obama does not fit into this category because he is very substantial. I just wanted to preempt that false equivalency claim.
So now, my elation is drained. I am cautiously happy for Alaska for being rid of Palin (though, again, supposedly, the lieutenant governor isn’t much better), but I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. Sarah Palin is too vain and too narcisstic to back out quietly. She’s had a taste of the limelight, and she’s addicted. I hope John McCain is ruing the Frankenstein monster he’s created because I certainly am.
You make some good points, Minna, and I’m sure you’re right about the poisonous creatures bit. But as far as her political future goes, I’d point out the following:
1. Her adoring fans are pretty much stuck in the adoration rut. If they start voicing doubts (which I bet many of them have, secretly), they start to openly admit that they were misled and blinded by Palin. Which comes down to saying “I’m an idiot, how could I have fallen for that??” Generally, people don’t do that easily… not when it comes to being cleaned out by a marriage swindler or a enterprising business schemer, not when it comes to fine art that turns out to be the “work” of an elephant, not when it comes to a politician like Palin.
I’d guess that the exodus ball will start rolling once a few brave souls take the first leap and admit that they were fooled by her. When that happens, she’ll lose her “base”.
2. Palin doesn’t have the family connection that Bush had. Her husband is nothing like Laura Bush (who, aside from being an idiot for sticking with someone like George W., seems to be a very competent and lovely person with a good understanding and acceptance of what a president’s spouse is expected to be like). Her parents are laughable if seen in potential connection with a high national political office, the rest of her family – as well as her social contacts – are basically unmentionable. She has NOTHING behind her there.
3. Every single tidbit of idiocy, every misstep, every lie, every (so far discovered) illegal action, every bit of childish finger-pointing, every bit of cronyism, her incompetence and her self-serving actions and stories, ALL OF THAT is on record and will stay on record. It’s one thing for one person to screw up with, say, an affair, or a bit of fraud, or an expensive haircut. Palin hasn’t screwed up with one thing, once or twice. She’s got YEARS of documented screw-ups to her public credit, screw-ups of a variety and frequency I don’t think we’ve ever seen before in this country out of a governor. And many if not most of them are linked directly to her selfish, personal wants. The narcissistic grifter is on record, Minna.
4. She QUIT. She walked out on her state and its people. No matter how anybody tries to spin that, the fact stands and is on record. I don’t think that she’ll be able to turn this around to her benefit, ever.
5. If housegate is indeed what’s coming down, and we add that to the above, and we wrap it up with her incompetence and refusal to play the game as it apparently needs to be played during a campaign, what do we have? Where could she possibly go with all that stuck all over her? Who would stay with her for another few now tainted years, knowing the odds? What’s the average attention span of people who go rah-rah for something like her?
I dunno. Weird things do happen. But I can’t see much to worry about from Palin’s corner right now.
Oh – P.S.:
She’s been saying over and over and over ad nauseum that Alaska is what matters to her. Occasionally, she adds her faith and her family. That’s on record too. Don’t you think that this would be dragged out in brilliant technicolor and megaphone sound, over and over and over ad nauseum, if she had the nerve to start wooing the country on a national level again? Alaska, Alaska, Alaska… that won’t sell beans in Boston.
Housegate…wouldn’t that be something, I mean WE all noticed the railings, the stairs, the glass all looked ODDLY familiar, and what “buddies” did Todd get help from? What paper did Sarah sign?
At first I thought maybe it had to do with the ethics complaint she filed against herself to override the Troopergate findings. I mean Alaskan’s certainly aren’t happy she filed an ethics complaint against herself adding to the total she has cost Alaska.
Of course, let’s not forget Babygate. I still think it would be hystericaly ironic to find out she DID have an affair with Todd’s partner and Trigg is the result.
I bet that she’d love a bridge to nowhere right now.
I think she is running hard.
Maybe she finally realized that she’ll never hold national office and decided to focus on making as much money as she can while there’s still some demand for whatever it is that she has to offer.
No, I think she is about to get in trouble.
She did NOT want to be making that speech.
**clicks ruby slippers**
There’s no color like orange for her
There’s no color like orange for her
There’s no color like oran…..
Iratwo, you have brought up several good points. All I can say in defense of my position is that narcissists like her do not go down without collateral damage. I would have more confidence that she was never returning to politics if I felt that the traditional media would actually, you know, call her on her bullshit. For all that those of us who read the ‘flats know about Palin, it’s not general knowledge. On the other blogs I read, people have NO clue as to all the shenanigans that Palin has pulled. I still think if she does not go to jail, she will have a few years to polish up her apple–so to speak–before emerging on the scene again. Just today, she talked (well, her mouthpiece did) about a higher calling.
whabs, I thought it was the house thing, but that’s really penny-ante shit. She would be in a better position to defend herself as governor than as a private citizen. It has to be something so ugly, she is forced to resign rather than deal with it.
Alex, I think she does have national ambitions. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how this all plays out.
I would have more confidence that she was never returning to politics if I felt that the traditional media would actually, you know, call her on her bullshit.
I think it was Josh Marshall who pointed out that some in the media are calling this bizarre move bold and potentially game-changing. Which is stupid — quitting now should doom any chance at all of future political office outside of maybe mayor of Wasilla. I realize the radicals who love her wouldn’t hold it against her if she broadcasted herself live on pay-per-view performing acts of drunken perversion in a Tijuana brothel — Rich Lowry would probably see sparkles all over again — but after quitting for no immediately obvious reason, the negative ads write themselves. How could anyone trust her to stick with the job when things got tough?
One of the functions of the media should be to enforce some minimal qualifications in politicians and point out when they don’t meet them. And, of course, the fact that the media took her vice presidential bid at all seriously doesn’t exactly fill me with competence that they won’t find some way to overlook this debacle out of fear of being called liberal again.
Greg, true. You know she fucked up in a big way when Rich Lowry put away his handkerchief. Yes, most of the traditional media (and, surprisingly, some of the rightwing media) have slammed Palin for her decision, as they should. However, we live in a society that has collective amnesia. If she does not go to jail (and it doesn’t look like she will), and if she keeps her nose out of trouble for the next year or two, does some good works for the Republican Party, and keeps her family from imploding, then she can run in 2012. Yes, I think that little of our media and our society in general.
It disheartened me to no end to hear the MN pundits talk about Coleman running for governor as if it were a done deal. They didn’t mention his pending FBI case or how he dragged that fucking election out for nearly eight months. They didn’t say that the last time he ran, he lost to a pro wrestler!
Anyway, we shall see. I don’t think Palin is done with politics yet.
I don’t think Palin is done with politics yet.
No doubt, but I think politics is done with her.
In a way, one of her complaints — that the media is against her — is essentially correct, but not in a so-called “liberal” way and not, sadly, as effectively as it should be. Think about guys like Ralph Nader and David Duke, who ran / run for president all the time, but are simply not taken seriously as candidates. The media is *supposed* to judge a candidate’s qualifications and reveal when those qualifications are lacking. Palin’s serial jackassery may be popular with the rubes for whom she targets her appeal, but it means she has no one but herself to blame for her epic fail as a national political figure.
Greg, again, you are much more optimistic than am I. Give her time. She can still polish up her image and dazzle the people again.
She can still polish up her image and dazzle the people again.
I don’t disagree, but I think the set of people she can dazzle next time is smaller than the set she dazzled in 2008, and even that wasn’t enough, thank Ford, to win her a spot in the White House. Sure, Lowry will probably see sparkles if she winks at the camera again, but some of those she appeals too with her victimized-just-folks manner will remember that she’s the Quitta from Wasilla.
Greg, well look at Governor Sanford. He just waited one week, and he doesn’t have to resign. Bah, humbug.
look at Governor Sanford. He just waited one week, and he doesn’t have to resign.
You know as well as I do: IOKIYAR. Edwards’ political career is over (and really, what the hell was he thinking?) So is Abrams’. But “Promise Keeper” Sanford, Gingrich, Vitter, Ensign, Limbaugh, McCain — still in office or on the TV all the time. And *they’re* from the political party that claims the higher moral ground. Talk about your double standards.
Feh.